Just read Rebecca Tarlau's article on Bolivia and the real revolutionary leaders of Latin America: the people on the ground. Describing community assemblies and the power of massive mobilizations, Tarlau focuses on the list of demands poor people are making in their community councils, including the nationalization of oil and the retraction of private property rights. She points out that you can change a government, but to really address the problems in a society, you have to structurally change the way people participate in a society to ferment a culture of freedom built on a common vision.

This article on Bolivia has got me thinking about the strength of citizen assemblies in Venezuela, as well, wondering what the analogs for this kind of grassroots power would be here in Canada. I wonder what common demands all the residents of Little Italy in Toronto could come up with together to nail to the door of the federal government. This morning I was reading about David Miller, the mayor of Toronto, who is demanding a 1 cent decrease in the amount tax dollars Toronto should have to send to the province. There was a long discussion about which strategies he would be wisest to use, including cosying up to fed-connected municipal and provincial players, and coming hard with the new Toronto Act. But no mention of grassroots support. If the citizens of Toronto stepped up to the plate on this one, maybe we actually could build a better, more socially just city, along the visions of some of our new city councellors, with the resources that are otherwise now sent away...